2000 Ford Focus SE 2.0 from North America

Summary:

Faults:

Too bad, I had to change the CD player 3 times, front left tire 3 times, and brakes 2 times.

Oh, and did I mention the seatbelt 5 times??!!

This car is pretty sporty and has good acceleration even on the base model, but it's very undependable. It breaks down every couple of weeks thanks to the cheap Ford parts. The dealer offered no help whatsoever, so I called the Ford helpline and now Ford is sueing them for making me pay for stuff covered by the warranty.

Same with my dad's Lincoln LS, cheap mechanical parts inside the car and out, sure it looks great for the first 6 months, then you better get your wallets ready. If you're looking for dependability, try Honda or Acura. I bought the Acura 1.7EL and I love it, most importantly it doesn't breakdown.

2000 Ford Focus SE 8v split-port from North America

Summary:

Best bang for your buck out there!!

Faults:

The only thing that went wrong is the trunk closing mechanism didn't retract fully preventing me from closing the trunk easily. A good slam would close it. The dealer replaced the defective part under warranty and now it works great! I leased the car with 19,000km on it initially and it is the best car I have ever owned :)

General Comments:

Some owner has posted a review on here complaining of a small boot (trunk) space. The Focus has a very decent trunk size for a compact car and what about the fold-down rear seats, just pop them down and you have a huge trunk!! Ever seen the trunk size of a Honda Civic or Toyota Echo, now those are tiny trunks!!!

The Focus won many Car of the Year awards because Ford finally got it right, great handling, huge interior room for a compact, great drivetrain and the best value in a compact car out there. Sure you can get a little sharper handling or more power from a Japanese manufacturer, but you will pay at least $3000 US more for that if not more, and is it necessary? Not in my opinion.

The Focus just plain works in every aspect for me, day in and day out. I never considered a Ford product before, the Contour was a joke, but I am totally pleased with my Focus and look forward to driving it everyday. There is nothing out there even close in its price range that can compete in terms of styling, handling, cabin size, comfort. The Toyota Echo looks like it was squashed between 2 trucks, too narrow and ugly. The Honda Civic is a fine product, but check out that price tag!! No thanks!! The rest of the compacts are either too expensive or lack styling, performance, or both... (GM products... Cavalier, ugh!!)